So I was at a trail clean up this weekend and camped out. I have a mountain hardware 3 person tent. It is usually just me in it and my dog. It got kind of cold but we have rocktoberfest on the 30th and 31st. I am afraid I am going to freeze.

I have a zero degree sleeping bag but I really want to be comfortable at night. Some of the guys talked about how they had tent heaters. I was looking at some today and was interested if anyone had one and if it was worth it. Thanks.

This is one I was actually looking at. Yes, I don't want to kill myself. I was also thinking of building a wood base for it that I could bolt it too that was more stable so I don't catch my tent on fire if the heater happens to fall over.

Those propane heaters work good but make sure you start off when you go to bed with a full bottle on it! It sucks bad waking up at 2:00 in the morning freezing your *** off because you used the bottle to cook with before putting it on the heater! (so I've heard!)

After learning about that I"m now back to using my old liquid fuel catylic coleman heater. It'll last a couple of days on a full tank and it sure is nice to wake up to a warm tent!

Currently some of my friends use a single pound tank catalytic heater (they all complain about running out of fuel).
Those with Mr. heater/my buddy heaters sometimes also complain about running out. Those of us that take a 10 or 20 pound propane pig almost never have a problem.

I have used everything from Kerosene heaters through small cat heaters to large flame heaters and have not yet found the ideal tent heater although the Mr. heater/my buddy/big buddy comes closest when connected to a large propane tank (if it had a thermostat it would be near perfect).

Enjoy!

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...a well prepped, well driven, vehicle should do well in any terrain, including the highway.

Carburetors became obsolete during the last century... do what ever it takes to get fuel injection...It makes bigger grins off road.

I use an old school Coleman liquid fuel catalytic heater. They come in several different BTU sizes. I think they are underrated in output. They put out way more heat than the newer catalytic heaters of the same size that screw on a propane bottle. They are far more economical to operate. You can find them NIB, often, on eBay for just a few bucks. I have a 3500BTU that I bought NIB for about 20 bucks from eBay. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I picked up another like-new 3500-5000 BTU one for 15 bucks at a flea market.

If you are interested...All Coleman liquid fuel gear...lanterns, stoves, heaters, ect...have the date and month they were made stamped on the bottom. Most of these heaters you find are gonna be 3+ decades old.

I would only use a tent heater to take the chill out of the air and never leave it unattended or on when sleeping (especially with a dog). A zero degree bag in a tent is a lot of insulation and you should get through almost any night comfortably. I have found you can add 10-20 degrees to the outside temperature simply by being inside the tent and I should think -10 degree temps are pretty rare. The idea of the tent heater is to ease the transition from the warm bag to the cold tent by warming up the air inside the tent. When you wake up in the morning (or the middle of the night to answer nature's call), it is easy to raise the temperature inside the tent by 40 + degrees very quickly with any of the tent heaters suggested. This also ensures you have an adequate fuel supply to last for quite a long time.

I use an old school Coleman liquid fuel catalytic heater. They come in several different BTU sizes. I think they are underrated in output. They put out way more heat than the newer catalytic heaters of the same size that screw on a propane bottle. They are far more economical to operate. You can find them NIB, often, on eBay for just a few bucks. I have a 3500BTU that I bought NIB for about 20 bucks from eBay. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I picked up another like-new 3500-5000 BTU one for 15 bucks at a flea market.

If you are interested...All Coleman liquid fuel gear...lanterns, stoves, heaters, ect...have the date and month they were made stamped on the bottom. Most of these heaters you find are gonna be 3+ decades old.

This is what I use. It works great and is plenty warm on its low setting and I have had it last for 12 hours on low. It is also safe for indoor use since it has a low o2 shutoff. Mr. Heater MH18B Big Buddy Propane Heater